ARGH!!!

July 1…long pants, shoes and socks, rain coat or fleece jacket, 57*…RAIN!  Enough said.

Thanks for stopping by…

;o)

Read Full Post »

What is a “blogiversary” anyway?

According to the online dictionary, there isn’t any such thing.  It does define “blog” as on online journal but that’s the extent of it.  However, just like the other blogs, I’m having an anniversary of my online journal.  In other words, I’m having a BLOGIVERSARY!

Unlike the other blogs, I’m not having any big giveaway.  First of all, I don’t think there are very many people that actually read my blog.  Secondly, I don’t have anything extra special that I think anyone would want.  So, it’s just my own little party.

I can hardly believe that I have been writing this little blog for a year now.  Well, technically, a year yesterday.  No, not really, I began this journey on February 29, 2008.   That’s when I had more than a year left to work before I retired.  As of today, there are 199 days left.  Of course, now that the economy has gone down the toilet and real estate is languishing on the market, I may not be able to retire in September.  If I don’t get my Maine condo sold, I will not be able to stop getting a nice, regular paycheck.  So, if you are reading this, I could use a little prayer or positive energy or whatever else you have up your sleeve to get my condo sold.

A year ago my granddaughter had not yet been born.  I had no idea that I would love this little girl so much.  She lives in MA so I don’t get to see her as much as I would like but her dad is pretty good about sharing photos and videos on YouTube.  She was born May 24 and is now 9 months old.  She has the biggest, bluest eyes; her name is Ella.

In addition to Ella, here are a few other items of interest that have taken place during the past year…

I bought myself a new Janome MC6600P machine.  It has a larger throat space for quilting and I have been able to do more advanced free-motion quilting.  I wouldn’t consider myself a great free-motion quilter yet but I’m getting more adventurous.

I visited Williamsburg and VA for the very first time.

I made my first “inchies” for a swap on MQResource.

I entered two quilts in the Maine Quilt Show and received 2 red ribbons.

I was a “celebrity” in the local Let’s Dance With the Stars competition/fund raiser.  I dressed as Marilyn Monroe and my partner, Peter and I danced to “I Wanna Be Loved By You”, sung by Marilyn Monroe.  We came in fourth place but we had a great time.

I have a new sewing room at Bills.

The first African/American president was elected.

Bill and I traveled to Bar Harbor a couple of times, spent time at the beach, went bike riding, worked in the gardens and all the regular things we enjoy doing, along with shoveling snow and complaining about the winter weather, which we don’t enjoy.  I did some sewing and finished a few projects but still don’t get to spend as much time at the machine as I would really like.  All in all I don’t think my life has changed that much over the past year (which is a good thing, really) but it’s a new blog year so we’ll see what there is to report this time next year.  (Hopefully I’ll be writing from warm, sunny FL.)

On a totally different note, Bill and I went to Cambridge last night for the Cambridge Firefighter’s Ball.  It was the 121st time the ball was held to commemorate firefighters who had served 25 years, those who had retired during the past year and remember those who had passed away.  Bill received a 25 year pin along with a beautiful plaque.  It was sparsely attended, compared to other years, and there is talk that this may be the last one.  I think that would be really sad.

Bill receiving 25 year pin and plaque

All dressed up and lookin' good

The venue was very nice and the food was exceptionally good.  The music was acceptable, although it all sounded the same by the end of the night, lots of heavy bass and there were only 4 “slow” songs during the course of the evening.  We left the party about 11:00 but stayed overnight and drove home this morning so that I could get to work by 5:00.

More snow tonight…10″-14″ with the peak of the storm around 8 in the morning.  I have two appointments scheduled in Portland tomorrow but it looks like they will be rescheduled.  It will be a good day to stay home and clean closets and SEW.

Read Full Post »

Two creative groups, Etsy store & FM update

Last night while searching the internet I came across two blogs that both support and encourage creativity and working “outside the box”.  Heaven knows that I need a big, giant push in that direction.  I know there is creativity in me but I find it hard to take that first step away from patterns and directions and someone else’s vision.  I’m hoping that by joining these two groups I can move in that direction.

First there is “Today’s Title is…”  and you can check out the welcoming details here.  It is hosted by Helen Suzanne and she will post a new title every weekend.  The idea is to post whatever comes into your mind first referencing the title.

This weekend’s title is suspended. At first I thought it had to be an item made to represent the word but when I read the details again, that is not the case.  It is just the first thing you think of and can be represented any way that works.  Here is my first post to “Today’s Title is…”

universe suspended

This is a glass and metal piece depicting the universe.  It was given to me by my best friend, Su a few years ago.  It hands from the ceiling by clear fishing line and appears to be suspended in midair.

The next group is Project Improv. It is hosted by Jacquie and can be found on her blog…Tallgrass Praire Studio. The intent is to promote and support quilting outside the lines; to be improvisational; to find your own voice.  She also asks that each new participant put together a quilt block for charity using one of three colorways.  Those are due by April 1 so that should get me moving.  This is something I want to do but have found it difficult to “just do it”.  I’m excited to get started and will keep updates on the blog.

In quilting news, I have actually made some progress on the FM quilt.  I attempted to post these photos the other day but was having lots of trouble so saved them for today.

first row of three assembled blocks

each large block has four rectangular blocks surrounding one square block.

To date I have completed four large blocks with no further sewing planned until Tuesday.  It is going together very quickly (when I actually sew).  I’m also excited to start on Ella’s coordinating quilt which will be my own design.  Stay tuned…

One more thing…I opened an Etsy store today.  There isn’t anything in it yet but there will be at some point.  I wanted to have the same name as the blog: BeeWitchinStitchin so decided to go ahead and sign up.  Once I have something to sell I’ll provide a link.  In the meantime, check out Etsy.com for lots of handmade gifts.

That’s all for now.  Bill and I are picking Trevor up in Portland this morning and he will visit with us until Monday when we take him back to his mom.  Wendy is visiting with Greg, Vanessa and Ella this weekend.  More snow today, up to 12″.  Oh joy!!!

Read Full Post »

Feeding my spirit

I always feel better when I have a chance to soak up some sun.  Today I had the opportunity to take a chair outside into the driveway and sit in the sun for a little while.  I put on my iPod,  settled in with a nice Dunkin Donuts iced coffee and just took in the sun.  The computer says it is 46*,  pretty nice for February and especially welcome after so much really cold weather.  The sun is melting the snow and ice and I listened to the drip, drip, drip of water off the roof.  Every once in a while the wind would shift and I would get those drips right in the face, but it didn’t matter one bit.  It was heaven.

On Friday,  Bill and I went to Malden, MA where we met with the tax accountant.  It’s a long drive to have the taxes done but Bill has been using the same guy for many years and he is quite savvy about deductions for firefighters,  so it’s worth the extra time to get some extra money.    From there we drove to Norwood, MA where we spent the night.  The TomTom said it was a 30 minute drive;  however, it was 6 PM when we left so we hit lots of Friday night traffic through Boston and Cambridge.  It took nearly 1 1/2 hours and I find that kind of traffic very anxiety provoking.  I was really glad to arrive at the Courtyard Marriott.After we checked in we drove a short distance to The Outback for dinner.  The reason for staying overnight rather than coming home was to visit with Ella and her mom and dad on Saturday.  It seemed to make sense to stay 20 minutes from them rather than driving 2 hours home on Friday and another 2 hours back the next day.

We arrived at Ella’s around 11:30.  She is recovering nicely from her broken leg but still isn’t allowed to stand on it.  She is trying to crawl but hasn’t quite figured it out.  She gets up on her hands and toes, then pushes off with her toes and inches forward.  She is really good at swiveling around on her tummy to go another direction.

Greg made a great potatoe soup for lunch, along with a fresh garlic bread.  I was thinking italian kind of garlic bread but it was bread made with pieces of cooked garlic incorporated into the dough.  They were both very good.

We headed home around 3PM in order to get home and give Bill a little time to relax before driving back to Cambridge for work today.

Ella and Papa Bill

Read Full Post »

ARGH!

More snow on the way, a nice “heavy at times” snow, a “the evening commute will be horrendous” snow, a by the time you get the walk shoveled and turn around, you can’t see the walk snow.  If it’s gotta snow why can’t we have just a couple of inches of snow instead of 8-12 or 10-16.  I’m sick and tired of moving snow from one place to another.  I think I have mentioned that I hate snow, ice, freezing rain, below zero temperatures, etc….I hate winter.

On another note.  Remember the song from The Muppets…one of these things is not like the other. Well, take a look at the following photo and tell me what the problem is.

and here’s another one…

Here’s the problem…(you can’t see it very well in the second photo) all of the pieces around the edge are supposed to be the same fabric.  There are 36 of these rectangles and I sewed at least a dozen incorrectly.  Thankfully I looked at the directions, who knows why, and was rather aghast by the fact that I screwed up.  I don’t know why it came as a surprise, it’s not the first time.  I’m just glad that I found out before I sewed all 36 the wrong way.

Tonight I managed to finish the frogging and maybe tomorrow between shoveling I can sew a few back together, the right way.

Read Full Post »

Pretty, pretty

I did get a little sewing done on the funky monkey quilt for Greg along with cutting more strips over the last couple of days.  The pattern is Keyholes (On a Roll Again by Heather Mulder Peterson) and the directions are for jelly rolls but I’m using fat quarters.  It doesn’t contain any info about cutting fat quarters so I have too many 2 1/2″ squares and not enough 2 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ rectangles.  Oh well, I have plenty of fabric, I think.  I’m sure I should have been able to figure it out better than I did.  Live and learn.

I had purchased a pattern for a small wallhanging called “Charmed, I’m Sure” by Patti Buhler along with a charm pack called “All You Need Is Love” by Deb Strain for Moda.  The pattern calls for 36  5″ squares but of course, the charm pack only has 31 squares.  I found another charm pack  (on eBay) called “Love Is In The Air” that coordinates with the original one I purchased.  (I hardly ever win a bid on eBay but I did win this one, then purchased an additional pack for my SS.)  I mentioned in an earlier post what a crumby day Friday was and I had gone to the quilt store.  While there I purchased a couple of great border fabrics for this wallhanging.  Now all I have to do is get started, along with the blooming 9-patch, the oriental flower, the kimono quilt and whatever else comes along.

It has been snowing since I got up this morning at 5.  I think they are talking 6 – 8 inches.  Oh Joy!  Have I mentioned that I hate snow, cold weather,  and winter in general.

Read Full Post »

Absurdly cold!

I understand that it’s winter and this is Maine but come on -26*.  That’s totally colder than cold.  When I went to bed last night is was -11* which I thought was quite out of the ordinary.  For some reason I woke up around 3 AM and thought, “as long as I’m awake, I wonder how cold it is now”.  So, I headed downstairs to check the computer…-20*.  Now, that’s darn cold.  I knew it was going to be cold, but really, -20*.  Then this morning I checked the computer at 8:30 and it was actually -26*.  I’ve had it with winter and it’s only mid January.  On top of the cold it’s going to snow again on Sunday, another 4-7 inches.  Yuck!!!

I was going to meet Su for coffee at our favorite little coffee shop, Aroma Joe’s (or as we call it, AJ’s).  We haven’t seen one another for at least a month because she has been dealing with sick parents.  So I was really looking forward to sitting down with a cup of coffee and a huge coffee roll (Su calls then frisbees) and talking girlie talk.  It was not meant to be.  My car would not start.  I had started it yesterday and let it run for several minutes hoping to keep the battery charged up in the cold weather.  I tried several times, waiting a while inbetween.  Nope, nothing.  Well, not actually nothing, it would turn over but just wouldn’t keep running.

I called Bill in a really grumpy mood and told him what the problem was.  He was just coming home from a 24 hour shift in Cambridge (1 1/2 drive) but would come over as quickly as possible.  It was about 11 when he arrived.   He tried more than once in the freezing cold to jump start my car.  Nope, nothing!  Call for a tow!  Darn it.

The tow truck arrived and packed my little honey off to a nice warm garage to sit and warm up.  The concensus was that the fuel line was frozen but the battery was fine.  Well, I guess that’s one good thing.  Bill and I left in his car for the quilt shop (always make me feel better even though it nearly always costs me money).  The owner had a new boxer puppy and he is so darn cute.  It did allow us to get our “dog fix” since we aren’t in a position to have a dog.  We had lunch at the Third Alarm Diner, ran some errands, went to Bill’s so he could finally shower and clean up.  We talked ourselves out of the gym.  Bad People, bad people.

The garage called (actually the mechanic called) and said my car was all warm and running like a charm, only $152 later.  At least the tow charge will be reimbursed by AAA.  We picked her up, made a stop at WalMart and returned to Bill’s where I cooked dinner for a change…stuffed peppers and fruit salad.  I headed home with Bills car (mine stayed in the garage at his house as the temps were going to be below zero again) around 7:30 and found no electricity in the little burg of Springvale.  Great, I need to get my stuff ready for work tomorrow.  I lit the oil lamp, got everything packed and was nearly ready to return to Bill’s when the power returned.  Yeah.  I would much rather sleep in my own bed when I have to get up at 5 to go to work.  Actually, I would rather sleep in my own bed all the time but that doesn’t usually  happen.

No cutting fabric or sewing tonight.  I read for a little while…Eldest by Christopher Paolini before heading to bed.  It’s a fantasy, sci-fi about dragons, elves and such. This is book 2 in the trilogy.

Read Full Post »

Photo op

I have already been out to shovel twice today and it is only 11:30.  I knew we were expecting sleet and freezing rain and I figured I would rather shovel light snow a couple of times rather than heavy, wet snow once.

I noticed that when I posted the photos of the butterflies, they weren’t “clickable”.  I remembered that Randi had a post on her blog about how to correct this problem so I got the info from her and I’m going to give it a try.

This is my beautiful granddaughter, Ella on her first Christmas.  She is 7 months old already.   Some of us call her Beautiful Ella Bella, bell of the ball.  The photo was taken by her dad and my most awesome son, Greg.

Read Full Post »

Ice, ice, baby

Ice storm 2008.  It has been 10 years since a significant ice storm and another 10 would not have hurt any ones feelings.  I went to work Thursday evening and it was already raining and freezing.  It continued to rain, quite heavily I might add, and freeze on anything and everything.  We started getting busy after 11 PM and by 1:30 AM we were running nonstop to wires down, trees on wires, wires pulled from buildings, etc.

On and on it went.  By 4:30 AM we were calling in extra help.  “Come on in and play with us.”  At one point my officer and I were cutting our way down a side street.  We had to cut and remove three tree limbs, covered with a 1/2 inch of ice making them very heavy (as if tree limbs weren’t heavy enough).

This scenario continued throughout the next day.  At least things don’t seem as bad when the sun comes up but they sure look worse when you can actually see the damage caused by freezing water.  York County in Southern Maine was the hardest hit county in the state.  There were only two towns that did not receive significant damage.  Our town was the worst hit (of course) with more than 90% of structures without power.  It truly looked like a war zone and sounded like one during the height of the storm when trees all around were cracking and falling down.

I was held over at work for an additional 10 hour shift.  I was concerned about any damage to my condo as it sits next to the only “hill” in the area as well as Bill’s house that is surrounded by trees and he was working in Cambridge (were it only rained).  We were both lucky.  There are limbs down around the property but no damage.  To top it off, my power returned Friday afternoon!

Bill’s power remains off as of today but he has a large generator so is able to keep the refrigerators cool and the frozen food, well, frozen.  He also has a wood stove which keeps the house nice and warm.  He can run the water pump off the generator so showers and toilet flushing are available (yeah).  It’s amazing what we take for granted!

Wendy and Dan are still without power today as well.  Poor Wendy, she got used to sleeping with a fan on while growing up on the second floor in Shapleigh.  It was an old farm house and the upstairs was stiffling in the summer, hence the fan.  She has not been able to sleep for the past few nights because there is a lack of fan noise.  She came over here last night and stayed with me, bringing her own fan along with her.  She is still sleeping soundly.  Good for her!

The temps today are supposed to get fairly warm for this time of year, in the 40’s.  That should melt a lot of the ice, although it is quite beautiful when the sun hits the ice covered trees and fields making them sparkle like they are wearing diamonds.  Additional power company crews should be arriving today from the Carolinas and the midwest states.  Unfortunately, the entire Northeast took a hit and crews have to come from farther away in order to help. There should be great improvements over the next day or so.

Read Full Post »

A week of ups and downs

This was a beautiful weather week.  Temps were in the mid 60’s and Bill and I were able to ride our bikes and sit in the sun.  It always feels soooo good.  On Sunday we rode 14 miles from Bill’s house to the Dunkin Donuts in No. Berwick.  We checked out a craft shop but didn’t find anything we really needed to take home with us.  From there we rode back on Rt. 4 to Bill’s house.  It was a spectacular day and we felt blessed to be outside in October feeling the warmth of the sun.  Not only that, we are blessed to be healthy enough to exercise on a semi-regular basis (as time allows).  We spent another day with Bill picking up leaves with the tractor and I cleaned up the gardens.

On the down side, my best friend, Su has spent the week in the hospital after surgery.  She is doing well but isn’t expected to return home for another couple of days.  She has suffered serious illness for the past several years and this is another bump in the road.  I am considerably blessed with good health, even though I’m approaching 60 (yikes) which is the opposite of Su.  I am always supportive and attempt to help her fend off the overwhelming depression that accompanies another health problem.  I am also blessed to have Su as my best friend.  She is such a wonderful person and I consider her my soulmate.  It is difficult to understand why she is faced with illness over and over again.  I pray that this time the final news is positive and she can look forward to some good years ahead.

On the quilting front, not much time to sew; however, I have been doing some background stitching on the butterfly picture.  I am using a technique from Diane Guadynski which she has termed Diane-shiko.  It isn’t difficult but time consuming.  After 5-6 hours I have completed maybe 1/4 of the background.  ti doesn’t really matter, this wallhanging was for Greg and Vanessa last Christmas.  As they say…better late than never.

I also did a some border quilting on the red oriental flower wallhanging.  I stitched a flower in variegated black and white thread.  I still can’t get the hang of doing it without a pattern so I have traced the flower on tracing paper and use that to follow.  The down side is taking all of the paper off when I’m done.

Two other good things happened this week, I listed my condo for sale and Bill and I finished my sewing room at his house.  We painted the ceiling and I chose a very light blue for the walls.  Bill pulled up the carpet and put down a laminate wood floor.  It looks so nice, clean and bright.  I still need to decide on curtains and blinds but I bought a new 6′ sewing table and it is set up in front of the window.  We moved a small bookshelf from my house.  It is holding fabric right now but will eventually hold children’s books and toys for the grandkids.

Read Full Post »